Pre-set pleating strip and method of pleating



Dec. 5, 1961 T. H. SCHAERER PRE-SET PLEATING STRIP AND METHOD OF PLEATING Filed Jan. 28, 1958 fllLlilillJr a h z n .lr'lllllllil 3,011,174 PRE-SET PLEATING STRIP AND METHOD OF PLEATING Theodore H. Schaerer, 2044 Ranstead St., Philadelphia, Pa. Filed Jan. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 711,594 1 Claim. (Cl. 23-278) This invention relates to the art of pleating fabrics and is particularly concerned with the pleating of curtains or draperies although, as will appear, the invention can be used more generally wherever fabrics may have to be pleated for one purpose or another. invention has been developed in connection with the pleating of curtains or draperies, the present disclosure will be directed primarily to that field.

Before stating the objects of the invention it will be helpful to refer to certain prior practices in the art because the advantages of the invention will be more readily appreciated with such prior practice in mind. Because the operation of pleating a fabric, especially a curtain fabric, is rather exacting and requires considerable individual skill and judgment in the matter of arranging the pleats and keeping them uniform in size or in pattern, it is often necessary to substitute a simple shirring'procedure in place of a truepleating technique in order to lessen costs and avoid delays. However, a shirring technique is by no means fully acceptable where high standards of quality are required so that true pleating is resorted to. Nevertheless, pleating as it has been customarily followed in this art is by no means an exact procedure involving as it does what it known as pinch pleating where the operator simply forms the pleats in the fabric as he runs it through the sewing machine. This means constant interruption to the flow of the material through the machine because it is necessary for the operator to stop the machine, arrange the next series of pleats by hand and then restart the machine while holding the arranged pleats as best he can'and so forth in the same series of steps repeated over and over again until the full width of the curtain or drapery has been pleated. As will be appreciated, this old and well known technique is subject to still further objection in that it is almost impossible to obtain any true measurement of the material which may be required to produce a given curtain or drapery prior to the time that the pleating operatinn In other words, it is impossible to deteris completed. mine in advance the exact width of material which may be needed for the finished pleated curtain or drapery.

Approximations, of course, are attainable but irregularities in the actual work of performing the pleating operation will many times result in a finished job which is not quite accurate as to size.

Another practice of the prior art is to employ what is known as pinch pleated tape which is nothing more or less than a strip of material with a series of pockets formed therein which are adapted to act as guides and receive the fingers or tines of the suspending hooks. Such pinch pleated tape, however, does not avoid the necessity of hand pleating of the fabric as the operator proceeds with the pleating of a curtain or drapery.

With all of the foregoing prior practice in mind it can be said that the principal objects of my invention are first, to provide a method of pleating which completely avoids the problems and difiiculties above mentioned while at the same time greatly reducing the complexity of the job and the time required in which to carry it out. Concomitantly, this object makes it possible to reduce the cost of providing suitably pleated curtains or draperies for any given situation; second, to provide a method of pleating by means of which an exact measurement of. the width of curtain material required to make the finished pleated However, since the "nited States atent O "ice drapery can be obtained in advance with absolute assurance that the'measurement will be correct and that the finished result will exactly fit the opening to be covered and with the fullness desired; andto provide a pre-set pleated drapery heading strip or the like which can be purchased in whatever yardage may be desired and subsequently cut to the length required for the job in hand which pre-set strip, in effect, serves as a pattern or templet which is ideally adapted to be used as a guide in fashioning the pleated'article. In connection with this last object, my invention involves the provision of a new article of manufacture, namely, a drapery headingstrip or the like which, preferably, can be composed of suitable stiffening material which strip of material is pre-set into a desired pattern of transverse pleats-held together by readily removable means until such time as the actual sewing of the curtain or drapery is to be performed.

How the foregoing objects and advantages together with such others as may appear hereinafter are attained will now be fully described in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

. FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a drapery'or heading strip according to my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to that of FIGURE l but illustrating a modified arrangement of the pre-set pleating folds;

FIGURE 3 is a rear face view of an upper corner of a curtain or drapery showing the manner in which my improved pleating strip is applied to the curtain fabric;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary rear face view imperspective showing a finished curtain or drapery with the pleating applied thereto; 1

FIGURE 5 is a section on the line 55 of FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged section on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 4. w

'In carrying out my invention I'first prepare a strip of stiff material v7 like the familiar crinoline frequently used in the fabrication of curtains'or draperies by running it through a suitable pleating machine adapted to lay up a series of pleats 8 extending transversely of the strip. These pleats may be of uniform size and may be extended continuously throughout the length'of the strip or set up in groups which are interruptingby plain or straight sections 7a as shown in FIGURE 1. The exact pattern in which the pleats 8 are arranged is immaterialto the basic concept of my invention and it will be obvious that any grouping of the pleats interspersed with'any flat or plain section as may be desired for a particular job'is' quite within the scope of my contribution. As the pleats I 8 are being formed,suitable means are provided for hold ing them in their laid up pattern until such time as the strip is to be applied to the fabric which is to be pleated. I accomplish this preferably'by applying to the'strip a couple of readily removable narrow tapes 9'on e along" each margin of the strip as shown in FIGURE '1.' The effect of these strips is to marginally bind the article so that the pleats remain in their proper position until such: time as the strip is to be applied to the fabric of the material to be pleated. It will be understood, of course, that some other holding means may be employed if-desired and also that the tape or tapes 9 can be applied at other locations on the strip if that seems to be desirable, 'but' I prefer to marginally bind the pleated strip in the manner: indicated in the drawing. i p I The strips 9, as indicated, adhere to the fabric of the stiffening strip and to this end can carry some sort of adhesive suitablefor the purpose; I prefer to apply or impregnate the tapes with a water or moisture soluble adhesive and in the manufacture of my improved article I arrange for the tape to be delivered to the face of the pleated strip as the pleats are formed and the assembly is run through suitable rollers so that the tapes adhere to the fabric and hold the pleated strip together as a finished article suitable for use by anyone desiring to pleat a curtain or a drapery or like material.

In the upper left hand corner of FIGURE 1 I have shown an end of a tape 9 as turned backward upon itself and on this turned back end the stippling 9a indicates the presence of the adhesive.

In the modification shown in FIGURE 2 the pleats 8 are essentially the same as the pleats 8 in FIGURE 1, but it will be noted that the pleats 8a at the right hand side are laid up in the opposite direction from that of the pleats 8. This arrangement of pleating can be 'continued throughout the length of the strip, namely, with groups of pleatings laid up in opposed relationship on opposite sides of a flat space 7a. Such an arrangement of the pleats provides an additional advantage in that it makes possible the formation of unusually beautiful and symmetrical fluting or fullness in the curtain or drapery to which the strip-is applied. The reason for this result is that the direction in whichthe pleats are laid up tends to throw the fabric of the curtain in a corresponding way so that when two adjacent series of pleats are oppositely laid up the resulting fiuting or fullness in the curtain is more uniform and pleasing. This advantage is a refinement which need not be introduced into all curtains.

With a strip of material pre-set in the manner already described, I will now proceed to a description of the preferred manner in which I fabricate a curtain or drapery. The first step following the manufacture of the pre-set strip is to measure the exact dimension over which the finished pleated article or drapery is to be applied. I then cut a length of my pre-set heading strip of the same dimension. The next step is to remove the holding or binding tapes 9 and to stretch out and open up the pleats to the full length of the material out of which they werefabricated. The stretched-out strip is then laid along the edge of the fabric 1 to be pleated and a line of stitching 11 applied to hold the two together in a manner well understood in this art. The fabric is then turned back around the adjacent edge of the stiffening material or crinoline 7 as shown in FIG- U-RE 3 whereupon another line of stitching 12 may be applied to the inner edge of the crinoline in order to hold the same in place on the fabric of the curtain. It will be understood, of course, that the curtain material is extensive enough to continue as far as the :length of the stretched-out strip of crinoline and at this point it may be cut withprovision, of course, for whatever hems or finishing may be required at the vertical edges of the d p ry- In connection with the foregoing description of the manner in which I proceed to fabricate a drapery, I want to point out that it is often convenient to make a marking along the inner edges of the binding tapes 9 before these tapes are removed. This can be done with a pencil and after the strip is stretched out to its fully opened condition the resulting interrupted line will serve as a'convenient guide when sewing the strip against the face of the fabric. It will be understood, of course, that this is not essential, but I mention it because of its convenience.

As will be appreciated we now have a flat blank representing'the curtain or drapery along the upper edge of which, as shown in FIGURE 3, there has been applied the stretched-out crinoline stiffening material, the dash lines 8b representing the creases where the pleates 8 had been formed. The tendency of the crinoline, of course, is to readily re-assume its pleated condition along the lines'of the original pleats and Ithe opeartor proceeds ening 11 and 12 and this may be preferable in some in-.

stances. However, any suitable stitching designed to hold the two parts together in their pleated condition as well as to present any desired figure or pattern of stitching may be employed. The upper corner of a finished curtain fabricated in accordance with the description just given is illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5 and when the job is completed, the fabric of the curtain or drapery will be neatly and uniformly fluted with exactly the fullness required for the opening to be covered and the final dimension of the curtain will be exactly right for the opening because the strip of pre-set heading was cut to the required width before the pleating operation was begun. a

The operation of re-establishing the pleats along the original pleating lines with the fabric of the curtain attached to the heading strip is one which is very easily carried out because, as indicated above, the crinoline falls naturally and readily into the original creases which formed the pleats. The job can be done expeditiously and by operators who are not necessarily fully skilled in the technique of curtain manufacture which, naturally, reduces the costs involved. This together with the fact that the finished result presents a better and more uniform appearance makes the invention highly desirable from a practical standpoint. The difliculties and limitations of prior practice are all overcome by my invention.

In conclusion it is desirable to point out that the heading strip may be completely covered on both sides by a second turn of the fabric 10 around the lower edge of the heading. This, however, forms no part of the present invention and represents familiar practice in the art depending upon the neatness or degree of finish that may be required for any particular job. Naturally, a procedure which completely hides the stiiiening material or crinoline provides the neatest appearance.

The fluting or fullness created in the curtain by the arrangement of FIGURE 2 lends itself to situations where the greatest degree of uniformity and beauty are demanded and my invention makes this degree of perfection quite readily attainable.

I claim:

For use in the pleating of fabrics, an elongated relatively narrow strip composed of crinoline and having longitudinal edges, said strip being pre-set into a pattern of complicated, flatly laid up transverse pleats, said pleats being expansible but inherently capable of re-assuming their pleated condition, said pleats being held in their laid up pattern by readily removable tape means positioned crosswise of said strip, said tape means having portions adjacent the longitudinal edges of said strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,265,920 Lack Mar. 14, 1918 1,516,935 Wachtel Nov. 25, 1924 2,124,650 Chessler July 26, 1938 2,162,591 Schneider et a l. June 13, 1939 2,418,347 Haag Apr. 1, 1947 2,595,549 Sherman May 6, 1952 2,662,577 Gordon Dec. 15, 1953 2,663,660 Layte Dec. 22, 1953 2,705,583 Hoffman Apr. 5, 1955 2,718,641 Gordon Sept. 27, 1955 

